The Red String of Fate
by Ajerzaaddict
Summary: Their fates are always intertwined regardless of what circumstances they are in because even though the red string which connects them together is intangible, it's unbreakable. Some short-lengthed oneshots which tell different moments in the lives of Erza and Jellal. (Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail and its' characters, Hiro Mashima does.)
1. Haircut

Cancer is always pound of his hair-cutting skills and gives girls a great haircut is the thing he enjoys doing the most.

But when the one who is receiving his service now is the famous Titania of Fairy Tail, he feels unusually stressful to cut hair for the first time.

It's not because the red-headed woman is demanding on her hairstyle. On the contrary, her request is pretty simple; "cut the hair to shoulder length" is all she said when he asked her how she wanted her hair be cut.

The pressure comes exclusively from a certain blue haired man who is watching him doing his job from behind. Every time the blades of his scissors touch a strand of scarlet tresses which shortens the length of Titania's hair by some inches, he feels as if holes are being bored on his back by the piercing glare from the former Ten Wizard Saint.

From the reflection in the mirror, Erza notices Cancer nervously turns his head to the side from time to time while cutting her hair, sweat rolls down from his forehand. She smiles knowingly.

"Don't mind him. He won't attack you. Just focus on what you are doing."

"O-okay!"

Cancer takes a deep breath and speeds up the moves of his scissors. He is a professional and should not be distracted by others when doing his job! Having said that, he is still aware that the glare from behind is intensifying follows every cut at the scarlet hair.

"Done!" Cancer announces after five minutes.

Erza looks at her new image in the mirror and smiles satisfactorily.

"Thank you, it's done perfectly."

After Cancer left, Erza turns to face her husband.

"Lucy's nice to let Cancer to give me haircut. It's not very friendly of you to scare him with your menacing glares."

"I'm sorry." Jellal apologizes knowing that he did overreact to Erza's haircut.

Leaving his seat, he walks to his wife and strokes her short locks with his hand.

"I miss your long hair already."

Erza sighed lightly. She misses her long scarlet tresses too, and the feel of Jellal's fingers running through them. But she don't regret for her decision.

"You do remember why I have to cut my hair short, don't you?" Erza places her hand on her pregnant belly with a gentle smile.

"It's easier to take care of short locks with the baby bump, and you won't have time to keep your long hair in good conditions after two months as well, because you shall be fully occupied with taking care of our newborn angel." Jellal repeats what Erza told him two days ago. "Even I offered to wash and dry the long locks for you, you refused to change your mind."

Erza giggles. Her husband is sweet, but she doesn't need him treating her like a helpless child.

"You know, short hair doesn't look that bad on me. You only need some time to get used to it."

"I know." Jellal places a kiss on the crown of Erza's head. "You will always look beautiful with whatever hairstyles in my eyes."

In the meantime, Cancer has returned to his owner's house.

"Can I add one more condition in our contract?"

"What condition?" Lucy looks at Cancer with surprise.

"I will only give haircut to people when their other half is not present."


	2. Postcards

The sun has started setting when Erza is plodding along the cobbled pavement leading to Fairy Hills.

She has just returned from an S-class mission which took her a week's time to complete. As fatigue washes over her body, she made the decision to go back to the dormitory immediately after reporting to the guild instead of staying for partying with her guild mates. Nonetheless, she didn't overlook the fight between Natsu and Gray and gave both a hard punch before leaving the guild.

When Erza reaches the building of the girl's dormitory, she checks her mailbox hanged on the wall next to the right side of the front door but finds nothing in it. She sighs quietly with a slight disappointment, and takes out her key to unlock the front door.

Having settled her baggage in her room, Erza goes to take a bath at the common bathroom. When she returns to her room again after the bathing, she sees a blue haired girl knocking on her room's door.

"Wendy, you're looking for me?"

"Oh, Erza-san, yes, this." Wendy gives Erza a postcard. "It's addressed to you but was wrongly dropped in my mailbox, so I return it to you."

"Thanks Wendy." Erza can't stop a smile from forming on her lips when taking the postcard from Wendy.

After entering her room, Erza settles herself comfortably in the couch and starts examining the postcard. On its front, it's the image of a town where houses are all rooted in different colors of tiles. At its' back, her name and address are written on the right side but nothing is written on the left side.

"Jellal…" She whispers. After several seconds, words starts appearing on the previously blank space on the postcard.

_Dear Erza, I hope everything is fine with you. We pass by this small old town called Ibisco today. Their colorful houses are lovely, aren't they? It's pity that we don't have time to explore more about this town. Our target is running fast that we have to leave immediately after buying some necessities for our journey. I'll write you again when we reach another town. Take care, J_

Erza re-read the message on the postcard several times before finally getting up from her seat. She goes to her bed, and pins the postcard on the pinboard hanged on the wall at her bed end. She notices that she has now received a total of seven postcards from the same man.

She recalls that the first one reached her around a month after the end of the dragon war. Although it was the first time she received an anonymous postcard with nothing more than her name and address written on it, she just _knew_ that it was sent to her by her blue haired friend and his name naturally escaped from her lips. That was how she accidentally found out that magic was applied to the postcard that the message would only appear when she spoke the sender's name.

The following six postcards took between ten days the shortest to three months the longest to reach her hands. She understands very well that the man's circumstances don't allow him to keep regular contact with her. Nonetheless, she feels anxious whenever a new one doesn't show up in her mailbox for over a month. When she finally receives one from him, it always gives her some relief because it's the proof that her dear friend is still alive and safe. Well, at least at the time the postcard was written.

She remembers every word written on all the postcards, and is aware how the man always keeps his message simple and factual without showing any of his personal feeling or mentioning any difficulty faced in his vagabond life. He knows how much she cares about him or he won't write her these postcards to ease her mind, but is careful not to write things that will cross the line of their friendship or make her worry about him. She respects his decision, knowing that she will do the same if she is in his position.

"Please stay safe, Jellal." Erza whispers her wish for her fugitive friend while giving one more look at the postcards he sent her, before walking away to go the kitchen to cook for her dinner.


	3. Facemask

"Jellal, why do you wear facemask today?"

Mira curiously asked the blue-haired man who sat quietly at the bar table. She didn't remember seeing him wearing a facemask when he showed up at Fairy Tail last night to play them, and more specifically a red-headed woman named Erza, a visit.

Jellal, who had fixed his gaze at Erza who was currently having a talk with her guild's Master at the order side of the guild hall, slowly turned his head to Mira's direction upon hearing the question and removed the facemask from his face.

"Ah…it was for hiding my identity from the public."

"But you are no longer a wanted criminal, why would you do that?" Tipping a finger at her chin, Mira asked with a puzzled expression.

"Well…um…"

Jellal uncomfortably shifted his body a little and glanced at Erza again, secretly praying that her discussion with Makarov would end soon.

He didn't talk to Erza much when he arrived last night since Fairy Tail's members immediately threw him a welcome party. While feeling grateful to the members for treating him like one of them, he also wished to spend some time with Erza _alone_ to find out how she was doing since their last encounter three months ago. So before Erza went back to Fairy Hills, he invited her for lunch in the following day as a little reunion between _old friends_ and received a positive answer from Erza. He offered to pick her up at her dormitory so that they could go to the restaurant together, to which Erza happily accepted. But when he met her up this morning as promised, she raised that she needed to go to the guild first to hand a report to the Master before their lunch.

That explained why he was waiting Erza in the guild which as a result gave a chance to the curious demon takeover mage to question him about his facemask.

"You see…there was an article in the recent Sorcerer Weekly in which I was mentioned…"

"I know! You and Sting were both featured as the most charismatic magic guild masters!" Mira excitedly recalled what she read from the magazine. "But how is it related to you hiding your…Oh! Wait! I understand now!" Mira clapped her hands together as realization hit her. "People must have recognized you from the magazine and approached you when you were out on the street, right?"

Jellal let out a sigh.

"Exactly." It took him and Erza double time to come back to the guild as a result, and he was well aware of the impatient look on Erza's face after she was forced to stop several times just to wait for him to give out autograph on the magazine in response to the readers' request. "That was why Erza bought me the facemask to wear so that people wouldn't recognize me and would stop disturbing me."

"The facemask was Erza's idea?"

_Shit._ Jellal just realized that he had said something which he originally not intended to reveal to Mira.

"Y-yeah."

Mira giggled.

"Erza was considerate of you."

"She's always considerate of her friends and comrades."

"Sure. But I think there was something else for Erza to ask you to wear a facemask. Let me guess…" A sly smile appeared at the corner of Mira's lips. "most of the people who 'disturbed' you were girls, am I right?"

It was not that difficult for Mira to imagine what happened to Jellal following the printing of that article. Every time after the magazine released her photo shot, many people, mostly men in her case, would enthusiastically came to her to greet her or to ask for autograph when she was out.

Jellal didn't answer Mira's question but turned his head to the side, coughing all of a sudden.

Ignoring Jellal's avoidance, Mira continued.

"Erza•got•_jealous_."

Jellal looked at Mira again with slightly widen eyes.

"But why would she? Do you happen to know the answer, Jellal?" Playing innocent, Mira asked Jellal the questions which led to an answer which couldn't be more obvious.

Jellal averted his eyes from Mira. He wanted to ignore her questions and simply walked away. But that would be very rude and impolite, especially when this woman whom he was dealing with now was one of Erza's precious comrades and his team member during the Grand Magic Games.

"No…I mean, there was no reason for her to get jealous. We are…only friends."

"_Only friends_, huh_?"_ Mira repeated Jellal's answer with a questioning tone. Then, a devilish smirk flashed across her face as she noticed a shade of red approaching the bar table. She grasped Jellal's hand with both of her hands. "Jellal, I really admire you!"

Jellal froze, too shocked by Mira's sudden change of attitude to give any response.

"Jellal!"

Jellal's hand retreated from Mira's grasp as he turned sharply to face the person who called him...with a hint of threat in her voice.

"Erza…"

"Erza, finished your talk with the Master?" Mira asked Erza with a cheerful voice as if she never noticed that Erza was frowning at her and Jellal.

"Yes. And it seemed that you and Jellal just had a very pleasant chat?"

"Ah, yes, I was chatting with Jellal about that article on him published in the recent Sorcerer Weekly." Mira turned to Jellal and gave him an angelic smile. "I truly agree with what the article said about you."

"I see…" Erza glanced stonily at Jellal. "Your popularity really rockets to a new level thanks to that magazine, Jellal."

Sensing Erza's displeasure and hoping to escape from Mira's trap, Jellal decided not to respond to Erza's comment but changed the topic of discussion.

"Shall we go now, Erza? I'm afraid that the strawberry cake would be sold out if we arrive at the restaurant too late."

"Oh! Then we should go now!" Non-surprisingly, Erza's attention to Jellal's popularity was distracted immediately at the mentioning of strawberry cake.

"Enjoy your lunch!" Mira waved happily at the pair who was leaving the guild, thinking that their interactions were really too amusing to watch.

Stepping out the guild's front door, Jellal put on the facemask again.

"You don't have to, if you enjoy the attention your admirers giving you." Erza stated coldly.

Jellal looked at Erza who at the same time raised her head to stare back at him. As tension slowly rose between them in the awkward silence, a certain comment from Mira played in Jellal's head.

"Are you getting jealous, Erza?"

"Me? Why? No!" Getting flustered by Jellal's sudden query, Erza shouted a little bit louder than she intended to and her cheeks reddened against her will.

Jellal couldn't suppress a smile from forming under his facemask witnessing Erza's reactions to his question.

"Sorry, I'm just kidding. I like the privacy this facemask giving me much more than the attention received from the public. Thanks again for buying me the facemask." Jellal said sincerely.

"Y-you're welcomed. L-let's quickly go to the restaurant now! I don't want to miss my strawberry cake!"

Erza started walking quickly leaving Jellal behind her.

"Sure." Jellal answered tenderly while quickening his pace to walk beside Erza.


	4. Déjà vu

Jellal burst into the guild hall of Fairy Tail's building almost breaking their door when he finally arrived at the guild after three days of non-stop travelling, gaining him a few surprised gasps from the members in the hall. But he didn't even waste one second to slow down his rapid breathing or to apologize for his reckless when opening his month.

"Wh…where's…Erza?" To no one particular, he panted out with a sense of urgency in his tone.

"Come here."

It was Mira who addressed Jellal's question immediately and signaled him to follow her lead. The white-haired take-over mage didn't bother to ask the blue-haired fugitive why he was looking for Erza knowing the only answer to the question.

"How's she now?" Walking closely behind Mira, Jellal asked nervously.

The news of Fairy Tail confronting Tartarus which caused several of its' famous members to get seriously injured spread across the country in the last few days. Jellal was already anxious about the situation of the friendly guild and its members before founding out the names of the injured. But soon horror replaced worries flooding over him at the instant he learned that Erza was one of the victims.

He was well aware that exposing his tracks to come to Fairy Tail would not only interrupt his secret investigation on Tartarus, but would also risk both his and Fairy Tail's safety in view that he was one of the targets of Tartaus being an ex-member of the Magic Council. Yet, he really couldn't bear to stay at the hide-out any longer not knowing Erza's real condition. What if she…

"Porlyusica had stabilized her condition, no life-threatening symptom presented." Mira's answer helped clearing some of Jellal's worries.

"But…"

This word made Jellal's heart skip a bit. He felt like being stabbed mercilessly at his heart as the bad news finally revealed by Mira after a moment of death silence.

"She was still sleeping when I watched her half hour ago." Mira told Jellal before knocking on the door to the female infirmary. When hearing no response, she opened the door and stepped aside to let Jellal walking in.

"She's at the far right of the room. Take your time."

"Thanks, Mira."

Mira nodded with a small smile and then walked away.

Jellal closed the door after entering the room. There were a total of five beds in the room, each separated by a partition. He noticed that three of the beds were occupied with patients who all seemed to be in their sleep.

He slowly walked towards Erza's bed, balling his hands into fists as fear rising in his heart followed every step he took. When he finally reached Erza's bedside, he couldn't help gasping at Erza's condition even he had already been warned by Mira in advance.

Erza's body was concealed beneath a blanket that Jellal couldn't tell how serious her body was hurt. What he could see was the cuts on her face, and the swab covering her right eye.

_She lost her right eye._

Mira's words rang loudly in Jellal's head, matching with the brutal reality displaying in front of his every eye.

It was then he felt some extremely familiar feelings exploded inside him, running through his every vein and invading his every cell, like a mad beast had been set free from its' imprisonment in his heart trying to take over him. His heartbeat started to race, his breath became heavier and his blood seemed to boil.

_Zeref._

He couldn't stop his body from shaking uncontrollably as he thought about who was the one behind all those people and demons who took away Erza's right eye, twice.

"I will make them pay…make _you_ pay…" His trembling voice seeped through his gritting teeth, transforming the unsettle feelings into a promise of revenge he swear to carry out.

"Je…llal?"

Her voice calling his name, despite being so small, immediately caught Jellal's attention nonetheless pulling him back from his thought to the reality.

"Erza!"

Jellal sat down on the chair at Erza's bedside and observed her cautiously. His heart shattered as he saw sadness and fear clouding her unusually bright and warm brown eyes. He opened his month trying to say something to comfort her. But to his surprise, she spoke up before he did.

"I'm fine. It's not like I've never experienced this before. I'll overcome it again just like how I did last time." Erza forced a smile on her face in an attempt to strengthen the credibility of her words, but at the same time thought that her smile must look terrible since she actually want to cry.

Being the mighty Titania of Fairy Tail, she had already made up her mind to continue fighting for her guild and comrades even with only one eye left. She would not give in to the fear and pain which Tartarus tried to force upon her. But when this man who was now sitting right in front of her, who in the past had saved her, betrayed her, forgot her and almost kissed her but still called himself her friend _only_, gave her _that expression_ and spoke _those words_ at the sight of the injuries she received, he easily hit the most fragile spot on her heart in a way no other person could do to her, bringing tears to her eyes.

She felt as though she was suddenly reliving one of the most horrible moments from her…no, _their_ past.

"And Jellal, please don't forget what you said to me at the time when we met at the Nirvana." Erza stretched her hand out from under the blanket to Jellal as she made her plea. Jellal grabbed her hand without hesitation and held it tightly between his palms. "Don't let hatred consuming you once again…because of me."

All of a sudden, Jellal realized that he had misunderstood the reason for Erza to look sad and scared.

It was not the cruel fate of losing her right eye again which haunted her.

It was him, Jellal Fernandes.

She felt his explosive emotions, and was frightened that he would repeat the mistakes he made at the time her right eye was firstly taken away.

Jellal couldn't suppress the feelings of shame and guilt from rising in his heart as he uncovered the truth, which joined the flaming anger that running through his body, torturing his mind and senses. Yet, he refused to let them crushing him. For the sake of the woman he loved, he would stay strong, and he would fight off whatever feelings and emotions which threatened to take away his sanity this time.

Still holding Erza's hand, Jellal bowed his head making contact between his forehead and his hands as if he was going to make a prayer.

"Never will I allow history to repeat on us." Jellal's voice was soft, but his tone was firm. "And this time, I'll stay by your side to fight with you until the day victory comes to us."

"Thank you, Jellal." Feeling relieved, Erza finally smiled from her heart.


	5. Argue

"Hi, Erza."

Stepping out from the back of a huge tree truck, Jellal greeted Erza with a gentle smile, not showing any shock from seeing the Fairy Tail mage wandering around his hide-out. Somehow his sixth sense had told him that he would meet her again sooner or later after Tartarus revealed themselves from the underworld.

"Jellal!" Erza called out in surprise and delight as the man she had been looking for since two weeks ago finally appeared in front of her, before she sighed in relief. "So you're safe…"

Jellal knew Erza was not talking about him being safe from being arrested by the Magic Council who could barely function after Tartarus' attack. Now it was his identity as the ex-Council member instead of his status as a fugitive which put his life at the biggest risk.

"Yes. Guess luck is still on my side for the time being. It seems that Tartarus is not as smart as you, or they would have already found out where I'm."

Jellall tried to tune down the seriousness of the new threat to his life. Although it would always warm his heart to know that Erza cared about him, he didn't like worrying her.

But Erza didn't seem to appreciate Jellal's approach. She knitted her brows in discontent.

"Luck is unreliable, and Tartarus is certainly not stupid. Besides, your guild has only two people which will put you at a great disadvantage if Tartarus attacks you. You should take every measure possible to avoid direct confrontation with them."

Jellal's smile turned to a bitter one. He didn't mean to anger Erza.

"I'm sorry if I sounded that I was….unmindful of my safety. I assure you that since Tartarus made their move on the ex-Council members, I've been putting extra effort in ensuring that they won't find me…at least not before I find out their weaknesses; and I promise I won't let my guard down."

Erza bit her bottom lip. She believed in Jellal. She always did. Yet, it didn't mean that she couldn't offer him her help. She knew in her heart that even Tartarus failed in finding out Jellal, the encounter between the two was inevitable in the end since it was unlikely that Jellal would back down from Crime Sorcière's mission of eliminating dark guilds.

Erza took a step closer to Jellal, looking straight into his eyes which always puzzled her with the color of their irises. She could never decide whether they were in fact olive green or golden brown because the color would change under different reflections of the light.

"Let me join you to investigate Tartarus."

"No." Jellal rejected Erza's demand without even giving a millisecond to consider it.

"Why not?"

"Erza." Jellal said her name with a little hint of frustration in his voice. "Aren't the reasons obvious?"

"The battle between you and Tartarus is personal? Well anything involved Tartarus relates to me now because that guild became Fairy Tail's enemy from the moment they attacked Laxus and Raijinshu. I shouldn't work with a fugitive? But who cares as even the Magic Council wouldn't bother to catch you under their current circumstances. It's dangerous? Then I tell you no one is really safe now under Tartarus's threat to rule our world." Erza paused to take a deep breath, still gazing Jellal with determination in her eyes. "I need to investigate Tartarus. If it's not for you, then it's for my guild, or for our world if it makes more senses. So, please, allow me to join you. Didn't Fairy Tail let you in too when you asked for our help to investigate the Eclipse?"

Jellal ran his hand through his blue locks and let out a heavy sigh, feeling utterly defeated by the arguments made by the redheaded woman.

"So it seems that you won't take 'no' for an answer."

"No. Not possible when you can't even give me one valid reason to decline my request."

Jellal thought for several seconds.

"Are you sure that Master Makarov will agree with your action? He was nice to me, so I don't want him to be angry with me for putting the life of his member in danger." He decided to try one last time to make Erza give up her request.

"'Danger' is not a valid reason, I've explained to you already. Moreover, Master believed in my judgment. He said that I could do whatever I thought was necessary to help you or to defeat Tartarus."

"Master Makarov always has great faith in his members." Jellal commented admiringly.

"He trusted you too." Erza said; her expression softened.

Jellal nodded, acknowledging the fact that if Makarov didn't trust him, he wouldn't have given his full support to Erza to help him.

And now, he had no other choice but to accept Erza's offer as he couldn't think of another reason to reject her.

"You win. Welcomed to Crime Sorcière, Erza." Jellal stretched out his hand to Erza with a small smile on his lips. Deep in his heart, he was still not so sure whether he should be worried about Erza's safety at Crime Sorcière or feel happy that Erza would stay by his side for some times.

Erza gladly took Jellal's hand in hers and repaid him a gentle smile.

"Thanks, Jellal."

They then stood in silence, not making a move but tightening their grip on the other's hand, allowing themselves a moment to relish in the warm exchanged between their palms.

_I won't let Tartarus hurt you_. They made their vows in their hearts simultaneously.


	6. Reversal

"I love you, Erza."

Erza stared at Jellal with her wide dark brown eyes which were void of emotions. Jellal painfully waited for Erza's reaction to his untimely confession, feeling that each second seemed to pass ten times slower than usual as they enveloped in the dead silence. Finally, after several seconds - or was it several minutes? - she grinned at him, in an unnatural way which made Jellal shiver. Her facial muscles were twitching; her thin lips curled up stiffly and her grinning face showed absolutely no feeling of happiness.

"Give me your life then."

Erza's grin grew wider while she applied more force into pushing her katana deeper into Jellal's body until its blade finally penetrated his abdomen and pierced through the skin; his blood dripping relentlessly from the point of the blade struck out of his back.

_It shouldn't turn out like this._

Jellal had dreamed endless times how he would confess to Erza and what her reactions would be despite his constant effort in repressing his feelings for her. He would bring her flowers, take her out for candlelight dinner and surprise her with a diamond ring when asking her to be his girl. She would smile with happy tears in her eyes before saying "yes", then throw herself into his arms and wrap her arms around his torso. He would hold her to him in a tight embrace and whisper his love for her into her ear, causing her to raise her head to look at him with affectionate gaze which melted his heart. His head would slowly lean to hers to close the distance between their faces, and they would both close their eyes when their lips finally touched.

He knew his dream would never come true, and he would have gladly submitted his life to Erza if it was her true wish. But how was he supposed to live this nightmare in which Erza was determined to kill him because Tartarus had transformed her into a demon by taking away her humanity?

A sorrowful smile formed on Jellal's lips. Gathering his remaining power, he used one hand to grasp one of Erza's hands which were holding the katana to prevent further movement of the sword, and placed his other hand to the back of Erza's neck to pull her head closer to his.

"Wake up please, Erza."

Jellal begged, before forcing his lips onto Erza's and closing his eyes, pouring all his feelings for her he had repressed over the years into the kiss.

He had accepted long time ago that he would never be the Prince Charming who saved the Princess from the hands of the witch and then lived with her happily ever after. What he had ever done to his red-headed Princess was broke her heart over and over again. But for this one time, he wished that he could live out Fairy Tales to become the Prince who liberated the Princess from the demon's control, just like how any Prince in Fairy Tale would rescue the Princess from the poisoned apple, from the sleeping curse, from the dragon or from the high-rise tower.

Jellal could feel Erza resisting his sudden advancement by shaking her head fiercely. Her hands attempted to pull out her katana from his abdomen to launch another attack but he stopped her action by holding her hand even tighter. Their fight for dominance inevitably caused more blood to flow out from his wound, and his power was gradually losing in the course as well. He started to feel dizzy but tried as hard as he could to stay conscious as he knew Erza's struggle would not last long.

Suddenly, the force Erza applied on the katana weakened. Jellal slowly released Erza's lips from their kiss and opened his eyes, only to see Erza's hand which was not in his hold had risen in the air and was ready to summon another weapon. He held his breath as he watched the magic seal glowing like firework around her hand, but let out the breath after several seconds when the seal faded out with nothing coming out from it, and also her katana stuck in his body vanished in the air.

Erza's body stiffened before she fell to the ground, her limbs convulsing. Jellal's gaze mixed with pity and guilt fell on her falling form which was now bound by the red bind snake he applied on her when he touched her neck.

"Free me!" Erza roared.

Her words broke Jellal's heart as Jellal felt like hearing her desperately begging him to free her from the control of Tartarus. But then he realized from her resentful gaze directed at him that she had not woken up from Tartarus' manipulations that she was only demanding him to release the bound on her body.

"No."

Jellal answered with a tiring voice, his legs finally gave out followed by his knees kissing the ground in the next instant. He grabbed the corner of his cloak and pressed the materials against his wound, trying to slow down the blood from running out his system. He had no more energy left to take Erza back to her guild. He only hoped that her comrades or Meredy could find them out soon and then they could find a way to restore Erza's true self.

Seconds passed, then minutes; however, no one came to them. Erza was still struggling to break the bind snake while Jellal continued losing his blood that his pants were now all wet and sticky after soaking up the red fluid. Fear and pain occupied Jellal's heart as he felt his hope to save Erza was slipping away but nothing more he could do to bring her old self back with his current state. He already had difficulty in focusing his vision that he could no longer see Erza's face clearly and even though he could still hear Erza's ear-piercing screams, it sounded like from afar. Not to mention the numbness and coldness ran through his body which prevented him from moving even one centimeter.

"Erza…"

Jellal's front landed on the ground, his eyelids had become unbearably heavy. The last thought on his mind before he closed his eyes was how much he wished that everything he was experiencing right now was only a nightmare in his sleep that when he woke up, he would find that Erza had never been turned into a demon.

The bind snake winded around Erza's body disappeared after Jellal fell into unconsciousness. Erza still rested on the ground to catch her breath after having struggled violently. When she finally felt that she had regained her strengths, she stood up and walked towards Jellal, turning his body over with a hard kick of her right foot. Gazing down on the unresponsive man with evident malice in her eyes, she summoned her katana in her hands once again and in one swift motion, stuck it precisely and forcefully in the spot on his left chest under where his beating heart located.

The grin on Erza's face grew never so wild before, while a lone tear silently rolled down from her left eye and dropped on Jellal's tattooed cheek.


	7. Kite

_It's such a beautiful day._ Erza mused while she was lying relaxingly on a vintage red and white picnic blanket that was spread on some soft and long grasses grew on a flat hillside.

The sun was shining brightly, but the sunrays kissing her exposed skin were comfortably warm instead of burning hot. The wind was blowing gently, stroking her long tresses with its' invisible fingers like a mother's touch. The sounds of nature like birds singing and the sounds of human such as children's laugher had mingled together to perform an extempore symphony which was nonetheless melodious.

But what really captured Erza's attention was the sky. It was light blue and cloudless, clear and wide open, hinting the limitless possibilities one could have in life with its undefined borders. What was more, flying kites of different colors and of different shapes were decorating the otherwise plain sky like how twinkling stars would light up the dark sky at night, which made the still celestial space look much more vivid.

Erza's eyes were filled with amusement as she watched the paper birds chasing with each other and completing to be the one who could fly the highest. She couldn't help but appreciated how they could move so smoothly and so lively following the flow of the air. A small smile formed on her lips as she wondered how it would feel if she could join them for a dance in the sky.

"What makes you smile, Erza?"

Erza's head turned to her right side where the voice came from and what entered her sight was Jellal's handsome face. The blue-haired man was lying on his side beside her, propping his head up with his hand and observing her with his curious golden eyes.

Erza's smile grew into one that was both sweet and cute before she answered Jellal's question as she came to the conclusion that it was Jellal's presence at her side which really made this day perfect for her.

"Oh, I just came across some silly thoughts, nothing special."

"I see…" Jellal let his hand which supported his head fell on the ground, and lowered his head to the side of Erza's until the tip of his nose was brushing against the shell of Erza's ear. "But I'd still _love_ to know what is in your mind even they are only some unimportant silly thoughts of yours."

Erza couldn't suppress a shiver from running through her as her ear tickled from Jellal's breath when he whispered to her. She inhaled some fresh air to soothe the suddenly built up tenseness within her before opening her mouth again.

"Okay…you see there are kites in the sky."

Jellal raised his head to look up to the sky to find the object mentioned by Erza.

"Really. I didn't notice them before." Jellal slightly nodded his head before turning his head to look at Erza again, waiting for her further explanation.

"So I was thinking…oh!" Erza stopped abruptly in the middle of her sentence and a shade of sadness flickered across her face, which caused Jellal to frown.

"What happened?"

"That kite is flying away…" Erza pointed her finger to a purple and yellow kite with the shape of a butterfly in the sky. "I just witnessed its string being severed by the string of another kite."

Jellal faced the sky after hearing Erza's answer and his eyes drifted to follow the movement of the purple and yellow kite which was now swirling in the sky.

As the artificial butterfly flew higher and farther following the lead of the wind, it also looked smaller in the eyes of its watchers and eventually, became nothing more than a tiny unnoticeable spot in the extensive sky.

"What a pity." Erza paused and turned her gaze from the kite to Jellal. The man was showing her his profile with his eyes remained fixed on the sky, and she secretly admired how beautiful and how distinctive the outlines of his straight nose and of his angular jaw were. "That kite is not going to return to its owner ever again."

"It seems so. But on a different point of view…" Jellal trailed off, turning his head to Erza's direction and locking eyes with her. "you could also say that that kite has finally broken away from the control of its owner and can now fly freely in the sky."

Erza felt her heart had become a little bit heavier as Jellal's response sunk into it. Without breaking their eye contact, she slightly shook her head to show that she didn't agree with his views.

"But the freedom it enjoys is only temporary, don't you think so? When the wind stops blowing, it will drop on the ground or in the sea, so broken and damaged that it can never fly again."

Erza watched Jellal's eyes widening like he had just heard a secret about himself which he didn't know. She smiled a gentle smile at him and raised a hand to caress one side of his cheeks with her delicate fingers, trying to put him at ease over their conversation which seemed to lead them to a sensitive topic in their lives.

"I think…the string of the kite held by the kite's owner serves more like a means of guidance instead of a form of control to the kite. It is also what allows the kite to return safely to its owner's hands whenever it is unable to fly anymore. Then wait until the wind rises once more, the kite may explore the sky again."

Jellal continued to stare deeply in Erza's eyes as if he was trying to understand her words through her soulful eyes. And despite the intense gaze he was giving her, Erza didn't feel nervous at all. She just found that she could never get tired of looking at his deep golden eyes which could speak emotions which could not be described in words.

Their silent communication continued until it was interrupted by a sigh escaped from Jellal's mouth. Jellal raised a hand to cup Erza's cheek with his palm, imitating the action of Erza's hand.

"You make me feel really sorry for that kite now. But you also make me feel very lucky that my life is not going to end like that of a lost kite, all thanks to you and to that strong string you tie on me."

Jellal's face slowly came closer to Erza's, his lips parting slightly in the process. Erza narrowed her eyes when she felt Jellal's breath on her lips, and closed them in bliss when her lips were finally captured tenderly by Jellal's soft mouth. The kiss became a bit more passionate when Jellal started sucking her lips lightly, and Erza couldn't deny that she enjoyed the pressure his lips put on hers. It was only when air started running out from her lungs that Erza put her right hand on Jellal's chest and pushed him lightly, signaling him to stop. She opened her eyes when the pressure on her lips disappeared, and saw Jellal gently smiling down at her.

"Erza, let's make kites and come here again to fly them."

Erza blinked her eyes for several times looking surprised by Jellal's suggestion, but giggled happily and nodded her head after digesting his idea.

"Yup, I'd love to."

* * *

A/N: First of all, thanks to everyone who read these oneshots, and I truly appreciate those who left their reviews.

I noticed that the last three I wrote all resolved around Tartarus, so I wanted to write something different and lighthearted for this one. Ash Lite's last review also encouraged me to do so. I'm sorry that the outcome is not very satisfying because the Jerza feels are not strong in this one and they may act a bit OC. Hope that next time I could bring you something better, I'll work hard on it!


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